Haircut

Yaro walked into the kitchen one night when I was cutting Aiden's hair.  He looked so pleasantly surprised!  It took him all of about 30 seconds to decide that he needed a haircut, and wanted it short enough that he could wear it like Cristiano Ronaldo (professional soccer player).  It took me two tries, but I got it short enough.
My kids act like I am torturing them when I cut their hair.  It's not that I am rough, or do a bad job, they just don't like having their hair cut.  We have actually had to pay Aiden to get a haircut before.  Actually, Grandma June was the one willing to fork over the dough.  So, the fact that Yaro was excited to get his haircut surprised us.

Girl's Camp

The theme this year was
Happily Ever After, so we were beautiful all week. Wendy Velasquez and  I had a blast together.

I spent a week at Girl's Camp.  This is the 4th year in a row that I have gone, and I hope to continue going for many more years to come.  I always have a blast with the girls, and the other women who attend.  I must confess that I am not a picture taker.  Some women like to document every moment of their lives, but either I am too lazy, or I just don't care enough.  In this digital age, I just hope that people will share their photos with me.  I'm better now that I have a phone with me everywhere I go, but again, I get lazy.

Just hanging Out at Home

Yaro was in heaven with the video games.  By the end of the time he was with us, we started telling him that he's an addict.

Occasionally he would pause long enough to look at us.

Aiden spent some time coming all of the extra fur  out of Gunther's coat.  He made a nice little toupee for him in case he starts to go bald.  

We tried to keep everyone busy, but the kids ended up spending a fair amount of time at home by themselves while the adults were at work.  We didn't ever hear of any fights or bad behavior, but none of them accomplished anything productive.  Brennan and Sophie spent time hanging out in their rooms.  Sophie has been doing that all summer.  We think she might be turning into a troll.

Aiden's Fingernails

While at EFY (Especially For Youth...a week long church camp for kids ages 14-18) Aiden was fortunate enough to have a girl paint his fingernails.  He didn't remove the paint for a week, and even gave a talk in church the Sunday after he got home.  He received a few strange looks, but he's Aiden.

He asked that she paint a kitty on his thumb.  She did a good job.

The kids stayed in dorms, and took their own bedding.  Our selection of twin-sized sheets has dwindled down to almost nothing but threadbare Scooby Doo, or Winnie the Pooh.  I took Aiden with me to the store to buy a new set.  He selected a lovely zebra pattern.  I understand that the other boys in his dorm were quite impressed.  Aiden can get away with things that other teenage boys can't.  He is such a fun kid.  The boys from our ward that went with him said that he had fun (Aiden doesn't volunteer information of this type, so I always have to ask his friends), but was at times a bit anti-social.  Some of us need more alone time than others.

Aiden also requested that I send him photos of Gunther everyday.  We all know that he loves him best in the family, so I complied.  I love Gunther too.  In fact, we haven't met a person yet that dislikes him.  He possesses some sort of strange magnetism.

The Zoo

(Originally written around July 13.  Just not finished then. :)
We have had another good week with Yaroslav.  He has had to fend for himself a little this week with our crazy work schedules.  He seems to have figured out how to find the cereal and milk for breakfast, and Sophie helped him get a pb and honey sandwich one day.  Hopefully he's feeling empowered and not neglected.

Yesterday we took the kids to the zoo and then to Belton Lake.  Aiden is at EFY, and since he wasn't interested in going to the zoo, we went without him.  

We had a lot of fun just playing in the water. (Apparently I didn't take any photos at the lake.)   I think that Yaro was worn out though, because all he's wanted to do today is lay around on the couch.  He has discovered Netflix which is both a good and bad thing.  It's nice to know that he can entertain himself (parental controls keep him from the bad stuff), but I think that he would be happy to be a couch potato if we let him.

Lance made him watch an "English as a second language" dvd this afternoon.  I'm not sure that he was very happy with him, but the grouchy look on his face made us laugh.

The kids found some stylish hats in the gift shop.  

Sophie is a reptile freak!  She loves them all especially lizards and turtles/tortoises.  Snakes...not so much, but she will admit that they feel very smooth and they are pretty.

Brennan and Sophie just horsing around.  I know that was really bad, but I just can't help myself sometimes.

At this point we were all getting a little zooed out.

We started playing UNO with him a few nights ago, and now he thinks that every night is UNO night.  It's been a good way for him to learn his colors and practice his numbers in English.